William Horine ZimmermanThe co-founder of
the nationally acclaimed Herbfarm
Restaurant died Tuesday, January 16, 2001, after a
year-long battle with cancer.

Bill Zimmerman, 83, was known throughout the region for
his gentle manner and love of gardening, cooking, birds
and animals. He delighted patrons by regularly
appearing with a pet goose or chicken under his
arm.

"He was a wonderful, wonderful man," said Jerry
Traunfeld, the restaurant's executive chef. "He was
very kind and exactly what you would want a grandfather
to be."

An avid grower of succulent plants and scented
geraniums into his 80s, Zimmerman would try and outdo
the restaurant gardeners by producing the first ripe
tomato of the season.

"He was very good at it," Traunfeld said.

Bill Zimmerman was
born in a log cabin at the corner of Second and Dunkle
Streets in Fairbanks, Alaska, on July 16, 1917. His
father, John Franklin Zimmerman, a Chicago-educated
mining engineer from the Zimmerman family farm in
Harvel, Illinois, provisioned in Seattle in the summer
of 1897 on a stopover en route to the Alaska Gold Rush.
After his father died in a mining accident in the
1920s, young Bill lived in Los Angeles with his mother,
Mary Horine, his brother Frankin, and his sister,
Mary. As a boy during the Depression, he helped support
his family by selling fruit and vegetables from a
roadside stand.

He studied
engineering in Los Angeles, and met Lola Kammer,
formerly from Brule, Nebraska, at a Burbank rooming
house where she was working. They were married on
December 10, 1941. (Pictures from Bill's youth.)

Mr. Zimmerman worked for Lockheed Aircraft during World
War II and after, serving as part of the team that
built the first American jet fighter. In 1946, after
the war, Bill and Lola moved to Gold Beach on the
southern Oregon coast where they built and operated a
salmon fishing resort, Rogue Woods, near a spot that
the author and sportsman, Zane Grey, had made famous.
The couple's two sons, Ron and Bob, were born in
Oregon and the family lived on a hill in a house that
Bill built with hand tools. They grew a large garden
and Lola canned fruit at the end of every summer.

He moved to what was rural Bellevue in 1954 with his
wife, Lola, and their young family after landing a job
with Boeing. During this time the family built another
home on Pine Lake on the Sammamish Plateau complete
with dock and small boats. Bill and Lola, who had
always wanted to live in sight of Mt. Si, purchased a
former berry and dairy farm in Fall City in 1974.

The next spring, Lola
found herself with too many chives in the garden and
set up a small roadside stall. By the mid-1980s, the
Herbfarm had grown into a restaurant, school, garden
and retail store, and attracted visitors from around
the world.

In January 1997, a fire destroyed the restaurant.
Katrina Gammon, a former Herbfarm employee, said that
when she drove Bill home after the post-fire
fund-raising event, he stopped to clean her car's dusty
headlights with his dress shirt.

"He was selfless," she said. "He would come through the
office pretty much every day, making sure we weren't
working too hard and bringing little clippings, quotes,
inspirational sayings."

"He would have loved to eat there," said
daughter-in-law Carrie Van Dyck, who runs the
restaurant with husband, Ron Zimmerman. "He loved to
eat."

Indeed, Zimmerman approached his cancer treatment as he
did many things in life -- through food.

"He ate a lot of herbal medicines, garlic and natural
grains," said long-time Herbfarm employee Carol Divers.
"He often said his healthy eating had contributed to a
long life."

Dad's last days were difficult for the entire family.
Bill's youngest son, Bob, relates his memories:

"I was present with my brother and my mom when dad
died. He had been going downhill rapidly in his last
few weeks and was not lucid at all. The day he died,
even though he never opened his eyes, he was able to
squeeze my mom's hand to show that he still could
hear what was being said and to show that he still
understood."

"The Evergreen Hospice in Kirkland was a wonderful
place for dad's last days. They are so caring. The
night before he died, my mom was sitting in a chair
beside my dad. She was exhausted. The nurse came in
and had mom lay down while she took her place beside
my dad, holding his hand and soothing him. Later in
the early morning, the nurse stayed in the room and
talked to us, telling us stories and helping us
through a very stressful time."

"My dad died just after noon on the 16th. My brother
and I had just walked out of the room to take a
break. My mom reached over and squeezed my dad's
shoulders. She whispered to him, "Honey, it's OK if
you want to leave. You can go now." He seemed to
relax and then opened his eyes wide open. I just
happened back into the room at that moment. His eyes
were as blue as the ocean, and then he closed them. I
quickly called in my brother. We came back into the
room. Dad became relaxed and was gone. We all got to
say our last goodbye's."

"Dad's minister noted at the funeral that, as if to
acknowledge the passing of great Spirit, at the
moment of his death, birds gathered in the garden
outside of his room and a crow gazed thoughtfully
through the window."

"The funeral at the Fall City Cemerty was wonderful.
We had some of dad's favorite music playing as the
people gathered around the gravesite. Anne and Thomas
distributed sprigs of Rosemary and Mable-gray scented
geraniums to everyone present. The minister, Tricia
Klink, from the Religious Science Center for Spiritual
Awareness in Bellevue, gave a short sermon and
then related how she came to know dad. He was the
first one to answer her "ad" when she was starting
her new church."

"After that, she invited those in the gathering who
knew dad to come forward and tell stories about how
he affected their lives. It was wonderful! Even the
UPS driver came forward and told how dad had affected
his life."

"Art Taylor, a long-time co-worker with Bill at
Boeing, came forward to relate how Bill had affected
his life. Art recalled that Bill had a list of "Life Sayings" that were posted
by his desk at work. When he retired, he was given a
fancy plaque and momento's. Of all the items, he
shared that Bill's life sayings are what he still has
framed in his living room for all to see."

"Both Ron and I shared a few memories and then we
watched as the coffin was lowered into the grave. Ron
sprinkeled some of the ashes from the HerbFarm
restaurant that burned down. Many dropped in handfuls
of earth."

"Afterwards there was a gathering at the HerbFarm
offices where we shared more memories. I think dad
would have approved."

Bill is survived by his wife, Lola, and his son's,
Ronald William, and Robert Raymond.